One of the popular stories about Shakyamuni Buddha's previous lives is one where Buddha as a captain of a ship kills a wicked black dwarf -as the character is known in Tibet. I assume that the story is familiar to all. I am curious about what became of the evil black dwarf after the captain (a Bodhisattva with clairvoyance and other special skills who would later become a Buddha) killed him. Is he still wondering through hell realms or get a rebirth as a Buddha's disciple or what?

Thank you most kindly. I addressed this issue to Venerable Geshe Thupten Kunkhen and he didn't know either... Or he did, but thought that I just wasn't ready to handle the truth. They do that sometimes.

But, yeah, he could be a previous incarnation of one of the seven dwarfs.

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"And the robber died to be reborn in a world of paradise." (The Skill in Means Sutra, p. 74)

1Myriad dharmas are only mind. Mind is unobtainable. What is there to seek?2If the Buddha-Nature is seen,there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.3Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.4With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,the six paramitas and myriad meansare complete within that essence.

"And the robber died to be reborn in a world of paradise." (The Skill in Means Sutra, p. 74)

The idea behind being that the Boddhisattva kills the evil being he takes it's karmic burden upon himself willingly entering the hell realms for the sake of the others? Demon dissolves into Rigpa kinda thing..

The pirate dwarf that gets killed in the story reminds me of demon Apasmara (Ignorance) of the Hindy mythology. There the God needs to adopt the form of Nataraj (Shiva the Destroyer) and perform the Tandava (dance of cosmic destruction) to suppress it, as Apasmara is immortal. ...Of course, it could be purely coincidental that Apasmara is also represented as a wicked black dwarf that is destined to be crushed by the emanation of the Dharma.

SunRay wrote:The idea behind being that the Boddhisattva kills the evil being he takes it's karmic burden upon himself willingly entering the hell realms for the sake of the others? Demon dissolves into Rigpa kinda thing..

Taking over another's karma is impossible in Buddhism. In the story the captain simple prevented the robber committing murder, that is, generating very bad karma.

1Myriad dharmas are only mind. Mind is unobtainable. What is there to seek?2If the Buddha-Nature is seen,there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.3Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.4With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,the six paramitas and myriad meansare complete within that essence.